What's really going on in the Vatican? What do atheists think about the Pope's stepping down?

Amid all the impending pomp and College of Cardinals politicking (men in brocades!), Benedict's departure takes place under the shadow of internal memoranda that supposedly tell how things REALLY are in the Vatican.

Does this have anything to do with the Pope's resigning? I don't care, but over a billion enslaved Catholics care very much.

Oh, wow. I can hardly wait till excerpts start appearing in Penthouse. Sorry, just kidding, nothing like that. Well, something like that: the memos may contain records of Cardinals being blackmailed because they're gay.

Also, we find that the Vatican is rife with politics and abuses of power.

Humanist reaction: Who knew? Take a hierarchy of sexually repressed men, clothe them in androgynous, anachronistic robes symbolizing rank, and guess what? They jockey for power and they abuse power. You thought they were above that kind of thing? That's religion's big lie: pious public behavior covers vile private behavior. But they're no different from GM, Brown University, or the Pentagon - hierachies all, rigid power structures.

Personal opinion. He's had enough with the pederasty scandals in America and Europe. As the Cardinal in charge of the Doctrine of the Congregation of Faith (Inquisition), he did his best to keep a lid on it before he became Pope. That didn't work out worth a shit.

And, there will be more cases of abuse coming out of South America, Africa and Asia. In addition, the Italian newspaper La Republica published an investigative article about how a group of Vatican gay prelates were partying like rock stars, and were getting blackmailed as a result. If I were "Joey the Rat," I'd have bailed myself. "Screw this shit. I can go to Castle Gandolfo, drink good wine, eat chateaubriand with sauce bernaise, and leave the next guy to deal with this crap."

Whoever the new "Mr. Infallible" will be, the world will "Eww and Ahh," especially if he is non-European. In the meantime, it will be nothing more than business as usual.